Boom solos to win Vuelta stage 15

First-year pro and former cyclo-cross World Champion Lars Boom (Rabobank) took an impressive solo win at the end of stage 15 of the Vuelta a Espana after breaking away from a 13-man move close to the finish. Overall, no change.

The Rabobank pro took off from a day-long break on the second of two ascents of the Alto de San Jeronimo climb, the same ascent where David Millar broke away to win a stage of the Vuelta back in 2003.

Boom followed three other riders up the road just before the treelined ascent started, then took off alone almost on the interminable succession of steady rises and false flats.

Spain’s David Herrero (Xacobeo-Galicia) chased the hardest behind, but he was no match for Boom – riding his first ever major Tour – on the constantly undulating climb just outside the finish city of Cordoba.

Boom soloed across the line over 90 seconds ahead of Herrero, whilst the bunch eased across the line some 20 minutes later, glad to take a day ‘off’ after three hard days in the mountains.

For Rabobank Boom’s victory is their first in the Vuelta this year. It also means they join the tiny group of teams (the others being Cervelo and Columbia-HTC) with victories in all three major Tours this season.

A winner of the Tour of Belgium this year and former national champion and U-23 World Time Trial Champion, Boom’s name will be more familiar to cyclo-cross fans.

Boom broke through the Belgian hegemony in the World Championships back in 2008 by winning the title before disappointing badly in 2009 in the same event and finishing twentieth.

Boom then opted to turn to road-racing, and the change is all but permanent. He told reporters after winning the stage to Cordoba that he will only do one or two cyclo-cross races this winter.

“I’m looking at doing a good ride in the Classics next year,” he said, “that’s why I’m here, not for ‘cross.” And if Boom does anything like as well as he did on stage 15 of the Vuelta, he seems certain of success in the near future.

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